Expelling of P. falciparum sporozoites by Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes during repeated feeding

Chiara Andolina; Geert-Jan van Gemert; Jordache Ramjith; Felix Evers; Wouter Graumans; Rianne Stoter; Karina Teelen; Felix J H Hol; Kjerstin Lanke; Teun Bousema

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiag130

Expelling of P. falciparum sporozoites by Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes during repeated feeding

J Infect Dis. 2026 Mar 3:jiag130. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiag130. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
² Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
³ Department of Clinical Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

PMID: 41774766
DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiag130

Abstract

It is currently unclear whether repeated mosquito feeding attempts achieve pathogen transmission. We measured Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite expelling in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes during two interrupted feeding attempts. The number of expelled sporozoites was positively correlated with salivary gland sporozoite load during the first feeding effort (ρ= 0.36, p= 0.0181) but less so during subsequent feeding (ρ= 0.06, p= 0.6811). The median number of expelled sporozoites was of similar magnitude during the first and second feeding event, with a strong correlation between them (ρ= 0.56, p= 0.0002). We conclude that repeated feeding results in repeated sporozoite inoculation at similar intensity.

Keywords: Plasmodium falciparum; Interrupted feeding; artificial skin; sporozoite expelling.